


Birthdays

by crmsndragonwngs



Series: Seiaki RP Generator Prompts [5]
Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Pokemon - Freeform, eventual angst, happy birthday Seidou!!!, implied seiaki, yup
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 04:54:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4774268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crmsndragonwngs/pseuds/crmsndragonwngs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>RP Generator Prompt:<br/>Seidou and Akira are Pokemon trainers that cross paths and end up traveling together.</p>
<p>Modified it a bit to fit with Seidou's birthday!!!  (9/10)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Like Cats and Dogs

“So, this is basically animal abuse, right?” 

“Oh my god, I don’t even know why I agreed to play this with you.”

“Well, technically you’re playing it next to me.”

“Ugh!”

She’s insufferable. She’s insufferable today just as she was yesterday and the day before that and the day before that. He doesn’t know why he bothers trying to tolerate her, especially today of all days.

“Why did you even get this game, Takizawa?” She asks, glancing up at him over the screen of her (borrowed) Nintendo DS. He glares.

“Because, _Mado_ , my grandma is old and still thinks I’m twelve.” He snaps, ignoring the pang of guilt in his chest. The truth is, this had been his birthday gift to himself. He’d been in the mall with his mom and sister and had seen the game (with its matching promotional DS) in a shop window. He’d bought it with the money his grandmother had sent him, but that was really the extent of her involvement.

Akira holds the system up in one hand and points at it, lifting an eyebrow incredulously, and he snorts again.

“I bought that one years ago, get off my case, Akira!” He hunches his shoulders and blushes behind the Lugia engraved on his new DS’s back. “And anyway, if you didn’t want to play then you could have left. I wouldn’t have minded!”

“I only asked because you looked so wretched sitting over here alone.”

“Gee thanks.”

“How do you play this game, anyway?” He stares at her.

“It’s Pokemon, what do you mean ‘how do you play this game?’” She meets his gaze coolly.

“I’ve never played it before.”

“Holy shit, why am I surprised? Of course you haven’t played it.” He heaves a sigh then, and moves to sit next to her on the breakroom couch.

“Are there cats?” She asks, ignoring his harshness, and he can’t help but laugh.

“Yes, there are cat- _like_ creatures.”

“Good. Then I want a whole team of cat- _like_ creatures.”

“Will you get mad at me if I beat your dumb cats with a team full of dogs?” And he is only partly teasing. She regards him calmly.

“It’s just a game, Takizawa.” She says, but her eyes are alight with competitive mischief. He laughs again, and this time when he tries to explain how to play she listens intently.


	2. Flash Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The idea is that it's Seidou's first birthday after his death, and it hits Akira pretty hard.

She doesn’t mean to end up with September 10th off, but when she finds herself wandering listlessly in her apartment, from room to room as though searching for something, she realizes that maybe it’s better that she’s home. Her grief would have kept her from properly doing her work.

Satisfied with this as an excuse, she indulges in a little moping until her feet are tired and the carpet is stamped down with tracks. She sits down on the couch in front of the tv, letting herself sink deep into the too soft cushions, then rummages in them for the remote.

She watches American television for hours before finally bringing herself to change the channel, and by then she’s wondering what the hell she’d been thinking in the first place.

_Mado Akira_ does not mope. She thinks, straightening her back and moving to turn off the tv. But a loud commercial startles her and her hand freezes.

“Arcanine, go!” A voice shouts. Her heart twists.

She stands abruptly and heads to her room, understanding now what she’d been searching for earlier. His DS. The one she’d borrowed. She’d never given it back.

She grabs it from a box in her closet, then grabs her keys and heads for the front door.

_He would have been 23 today._ She thinks even as the cashier at the local game store eyes her curiously. Then she drives to the cemetery where she and his family had buried him, and sits in the car, unable to bring herself to leave it. Instead, she tears open the cellophane enwrapped game and gently lifts out the cartridge. “How flustered would he have been if I’d bought you for him?” She asks it, then slides it into the system and turns on the power.

She plays it for hours, remembering everything he’d taught her as though it weren’t ‘just a game.’ As though it mattered. As though it were _important_.

Then there is a sharp knock against the passenger side window and she looks up to see the groundskeeper staring at her with guarded eyes. She reaches forward and starts the car, and he leaves, seemingly appeased.

“But I’m in a battle.” She murmurs under her breath, then turns back to the weakened wild Growlithe on her screen. She sends out a Pokeball. It shakes once. Twice. Caught.

With tears in her eyes, she names it Seidou.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooookay, so grief is difficult to write because it's different for everyone. Some people may think this is OOC for Akira, but I honestly don't think so. It's just...out of the ordinary for her, but that's not necessarily out of _character_. In my personal life, I'm generally regarded as closed-off, cold, and difficult to talk to (I've actually been told this). It's for these reasons that I connect so much with Akira, and why I like writing her so much; she's very special to me. Now, we know that Akira does grieve for Takizawa and Amon, just as she grieves for her parents, but we only ever see her cry once (and only briefly), but that doesn't mean she didn't fall apart completely when she was in the safety and seclusion of her own home. I've held myself perfectly stoic all day only to dissolve into a pile of mush and tears the minute the door was closed and locked behind me. I did this A LOT in college when I was over-stressed or just generally upset. 
> 
> Anyway, this was my thinking behind this piece. Honestly, I don't think we can talk about Seidou's birthday without addressing his absence, because this is what it's like to lose someone you care about. Their birthdays become days of remembrance, and are often both sad and happy for many reasons. 
> 
> Also, sorry it sort of ended up more about Akira than Seidou, but it's also TG Lady Appreciation week, and while this wasn't written for that, I guess it sort of fits anyway. This fic sort of acknowledges and appreciates the idea that she is human with human emotions, and though they may not be a defining point of her character, that doesn't make them nonexistent.
> 
> Now that the notes are longer than the actual fic, I should also say that this was originally only meant as filler between the first and third parts, and that I didn't mean to go on a huge tangent at the end about Akira and how under-appreciated she is. I'm sick and hopped up on cough medicine, so I'm all fuzzy and delirious. Honestly, I'm lucky that I can even write at all, let alone organize my thoughts into something comprehensible...

**Author's Note:**

> There are three parts to this, and unfortunately, they probably won't all be posted today :/ I did try to get them all out for bae's birthday, but I've been sick and hopped up on cough medicine all day, so I haven't gotten much of anything done. 
> 
> Anyway, I am glad I got this one done in time (barely, it's like 11pm where I am right now). I was caught between wanting to do fluff and wanting to do angst, so I uh...did both. You'll see it in next two parts D:
> 
> And yeah, since this is totally my OTP, I couldn't _not_ do seiaki for one of my two favorite characters' birthday :P
> 
> ~~Also also, I suck at titles so there you go...~~


End file.
